Cuil; Apathy towards an Engine

What shall I talk about for today ... oh, wait, it's Recon-Thr which means I should go out and explore something new. In theory.

And since, Cuil is out and receiving mixed reviews, I thought I would test out a few search engines today. Just to see how Cuil fares. I'm going to pit it against Google, Yahoo and against my better judgement, MSN.

Details about my tests.

I like to do a bit of translation on the side so searching for breakdowns of word forms is a regular activity. If you use the auto translation tools, you know as well as I do that those apps only work on a very basic level. If you are trying to learn a new language and hence, want to understand a language structure and eplxore its word form, an auto translat is not the best way to do. I like to search for various words formations, just to see how someone has analyzed it, any explanations to see what words are derived from it, etc.

So how do these guys fare when I look for a breakdown of aangegaan using keywords "dutch verb aangegaan". This will be test one.

And of course, I look for a lot of sci fi info. So I'm currently raving about Dr Horrible and what a fantastic job Joss Whedon and co. have done with it. Let keywords 'Dr Horrible' be test two.

Test 3 will be a bit of a narcissist test. Quite a few times I might thrown in my blog name and say "Please check here for a sample of my writing style". Well, some of it showcases it. Anyway, so I am also banking on the person in question just typing in my blog name in a search engine and coming up with my post. Worst cases, they might search for it off hand, if they didn't have my file infront of them. I know I search for my friend's art stuff by simply typing in their blog name. So what's the result if I type 'myfavscifi'?

Last test. When I hear something on the news, I will of course search the ewords I can recall to find out more. A few days ago there was a bit of news stating that the trial for the matron accused of abusing girls in Oprah's school for girls in South Africa is underway. So what if I wanted to know more? Keywords "oprah school trial".



Google

Test One
First on Google's list is Woxikon which is a site I am starting to love. It maybe a bit all over the place but when you want to explore word formation, such sites are an absolute delight.

Test Two
Yay for google. The first on the list is Dr Horrible's official sing-along blog.

Test Three
I say pass. If I type just 'myfavscifi', I am second on google search results. Apparently someone linked to mine and it came up first. Oh well.

Test Four
Google brings up a lot of current news from Yahoo and BBC about the trial itself. So far so good.



Cuil

Test One
A bit of an epic fail on the side of Cuil. If you try it and see, there are no pages that come up for the query.

Test Two
Okay, there are a lot of results coming up, some of which are posts about Dr Horrible but no sign of the official Dr Horrible site. So maybe not an epic fail but just fail. It's annoying that the first two results don't seem to be related in anyway to Whedon's creation.

Test Three
Am I seeing a trend of 'this is so not happening' here?

Test Four
There are some old articles about Oprah's school and how there will be a trial. Relevant articles but nothing recent. Well, somewhat irrelevant, especially if I wanted the recent news. So I add the word 'July' to keywords ... fail! Nothing comes up.


Yahoo

Test One
First on the list of Yahoo searches is Verbix. I don't know this site but I am certainly going to bookmark this. Nice! This site has a nice breakdown of aangeggan; shows us the various morphemes that make up the word and how they are used with various pronouns and tenses!

By the way, do note that a lot of the top searches in Yahoo was also amongst the top searches of Google and vice versa.

Test Two
Hooray for Yahoo. The official Dr Horrible's site was the top of the list. Bravo.

Test Three
At least my blog is top of the list. Good job Yahoo.

Test Four Once again, recent and relevant news. CNN, BBC and AllAfrica. Good good.



MSN

Test One
Okay, not so good. There are a lot of unrelated sites coming up, most of them in Dutch (which is ok) but not quite related to breakdown of the word. Hmm, not giving you any points here.

Test Two
Brownie points for you. Yes, the official Dr Horrible's site was the top of the list.

Test Three
My blog is second on the list. Not bad, I would even grudgingly say good.

Test Four
Well, the articles maybe about Oprah and the school and about a trail but it dates back to April. Nothing recent. So fail.


Results

At the end of the day, I must admit I am not eager to use Cuil. Let's see how it goes and how it grows and maybe I might be won over. For now, Google and Yahoo will be my main search engines. On an unrelated note, my resolve to keep avoiding MSN has been inadvertently strenghtened through this.

No definite gene for Schizophrenia just yet

BBC featured an article on Schizophrenia; have researchers isolated genes that might somehow contribute to it?

Maybe, maybe not.

Two separate international groups, both testing thousands of people with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers, identified the same two rare genetic variants which appeared to contribute strongly to the chances of developing the disease.

The third research basically found gene types linked to the illness, types that were more common in patients but ones that didn't really increase your chance. Not by a significant amount anyway.

While it is significant, experts are warning that, at this point, there is not enough evidence pinpointing any single gene as the sole cause.

Crime Maps to Help Public

I am not so sure about this idea.

British police have a cunning plan; they are going to introduce interactive online maps which will inform public about worrisome crime in their areas. And of course, be able to compare with different neighborhood, for instance, is Grandma Jane's street as violent as she would like the little ones to think.

"By rolling out up-to-date, interactive crime maps we can better inform people about crime problems in their area and enable them to have much more of a say in what their local police focus on," said home secretary Jacqui Smith.

Look, I like the idea. I think the public needs more crimewatch information. My question is, how sure we be that all crimes reported will be uploaded onto the map? I mean look at the scandals surrounds South African police (SAPS) and their firm hold on the crime statistics.

So what about if someone was looking dodgy (under the infamous 'too many strange people take photos' law)? Will the detaining or arrest of such a person be noted on the maps as well?

Stargate Continuum out now!!

Stargate Continuum was released yesterday!

Hooray!

Gateworld has a 20 min video of the 'premiere' of the movie; interviews, bits of spoilers and talking to cast prior to the screening. Fun stuff.

Now available from Amazon at just under $17. That's what I'm choosing if it takes too long to get it from stores over here.

Diablo III Figures

Looked what Google Alert dropped into my mail today - an announcement that Diablo 3 figures were in the works!

Sideshow Collectibles are gonna work hand in hand with Blizzard to create figurines for upcoming Diablo 3. How cool is that? Standing at 45cm and looking rather mean (it is the Barbarian), it costs a painful $299! **Sob**

Well worth the money though.

Source:
Sideshow via Link

Dr Horrible Part 4 - Coming Soon!

Wooohoooo!

According to Syfy Portal, there might be a fourth part to the absolutely fabulous Dr Horrible series. Nice!

Extract:

There also will be a chance for fans to be involved. The crew is preparing to accept video from fans featuring their character they would like to be accepted into the Evil League of Evil. The 10 best videos will be picked and included in the DVD release.

New Bond Fan Movie: Shamelady

James Bond gets bit of coverage on this site because the original Bond was all about gadgets; spying with gadgets, women and fast cars (more gadgets) and cheating death (more gadgets).

So I present you this interesting interview I found on Wikinews (avast and away those of you who snob Wiki).

It features an interview with Eric Saussine regarding the fan flim, Shamelady. It is a non-profit James Bond movie made by Constellation Studios.



Extract:

Shamelady attempts to be a true James Bond adventure, except in length. Our 007 lasts 54 minutes. The story takes place in Iraq, England and France. James Bond is sent to the south of France to buy information about a secret organization that terrorizes Great Britain. Read more ...

Disco with Pratchett quotes

Photo Source: Cyclone @ TerryPratchett Books

I came across these photos on Terry Pratchett Books whilst browsing Pratchett related news.

Yip, there is a discotheque in Bulgaria, wonderfully decorated with quotes from Discworld novels. It goes by the name Discotheque Tralala. Fancy that.

Aliens do exist: says Moonwalker and Pope

This certainly made headlines.

The sixth man to take a jaunty stroll on the moon has something to say - Astronaut Edgar Mitchells claims that aliens do exist!

"We're not alone in the Universe. We have been visited."

According to him, there's been a lot of cover-ups in past 60 years and that there has been a considerable amount of contact.

"I think we're heading toward serious disclosure, but I can't say how fast."
NASA seems to be denying it and are understandably tightlipped.
NASA, of course, is trying to downplay Edgar Mitchell's remarks and is denying that it is involved in some sort of alien conspiracy cover up.

Well, considering there's been all sorts of stories coming up this year, this one is not that bizarre.

Remember that strange story about a supposed UN meeting about UFOs?

According to About.com, [c]iting increased reports of UFOs and alien contact as the purpose of the gathering, sources also stated that there was a timetable set for world disclosure of alien contact-the year 2017.

Oh and my favorite one is the declaration from the Pope himself.

Alright so it was a spokesperson who said it on behalf of the Vatican, but it was still a gesture of acceptance of life on other planets.
Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.

Pretty big step there.

You have to wonder if there is more to alien contact than any of these sources are willing to reveal.

Amanda Tapping's new project; Sanctuary

Hooray, Gateworld has an interview with Amanda Tapping.

Tapping talks about working on Sanctuary, her current pet project and possibly the biggest reason for her departure from Stargate Atlantis.

"... And so I felt like I was taking not only a leap away from my comfort zone and my home at the Bridge Studios, but a leap of faith with the fans that there might be people that may not want to join me on this journey. And that's OK."

Keeping an eye out for Sanctuary; apparently there might be interesting little titbits inserted to the plotline.

Friday links: Female Mathematicians, Robots and Comets

Okay, time for interesting stories from all over.


This one's my favorite. A recent study has shown that girls are just as good at maths as boys. Finally, vindication!

Another hot topic. There just might be concrete evidence that the Tungunska explosion of 1908 might have been caused by a comet. Evidence? Acid rain and iridium!

Alright, this one's a bit warped. And sick. And so wrong. A robot named Hero is going to scan under vehicles in case terrorists, along with the tired, the hungry and the poor try to get into the UK.

Source:
Photo

Translate gets grant from Mozilla

It's always heart-warming to read stories like this.

South Africa’s award-winning multilingual software developer, Translate.org.za, has been awarded a grant by the Mozilla Corporation to extend its translation tools. The US-based Mozilla Corporation, a subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, co-ordinates the development of popular Internet software projects such as the Firefox web browser and the Thunderbird email client.

The rest of the world does get a bit tired of Western countries assuming that all IT breakthroughs take place in the First World.

Of course, you will still get the occasional schmuck who thinks that all Africans live in wilderness and African kids must not be let near a computer in case they download porn (sigh, yes. This was a ragging debate on a social network once).

Source:
(via Muti)

A Bad Review of Dark Knight

A lotta my friends have been excited about Dark Knight. Many have asked me what I thought of trailer, am I as gung-ho about it etc. etc.

I explain to them why I am put off by the new Batman movie. No one believes me ... rather, there is a look of disbelief, somewhere along the lines of "No! That did not happen!"

Incident in question? Namely that Warner Bros. had a blogger named Uruloki's Flickr account deleted 'cos he had access to unauthorized pictures of the Dark Knight.

Now Warner Bros. had already issued a cease-and-desist order to the blogger. Sure enough, he got rid of them.

But wait, WB went a step further and had his Flickr account deleted, an account that had other pics, some of which were perfectly legit ones. Can you imagine what a blow this was to the poor guy?

Quote from IEBS as seen on FilmDrunk- since every image on his site from the last five years was also hosted there, he pretty much lost everything.

[New addition] Found another link about the story @ CC2K. 

Link to Uruloki blog itself!

That was just nasty.

Since then I've pretty much sworn off any Batman flicks by Warner Bros. I just might overlook most movies done by WB and just stick to other production companies.

As it is, it's a bit tacky that they are using Heath Ledger's name to promote the movie. Ledger was an excellent actor and he probably did a fantastic job on this movie.

But don't inadvertently bank on his death and hype on this as his very last performance. That's tasteless with capital T.

By the way, on the subject of Warner Bros. deleting the Flickr account ... if you can find anymore stories about this incident (happened in Dec 2007), please send me the links. I am just curious to see if they are still out there, buried away somewhere or if they just 'disappeared'.

Source:
Link

Gaming Legend: Roberta Williams

Photo Source: Sierra Planet

I've been a huge fan of old Sierra games; King's Quest series, Phantasmagoria, Space Quest and of course, Police Quest. And when I first played the games in the 90s, the name Roberta Williams would pop up a lot. No surprise there, since she was the designer for a lot of the games (alright maybe not the later two but definitely the first two).

Introductions First

Roberta Williams and her husband Ken Williams started Sierra On-line which propelled a new trend in computer gaming. Their adventure games became legendary; great sense of humor, caters to an intelligent audience and interesting storyline.

Roberta Williams was a legend in setting standards for game designs. And let's not forget, she was one of the first female game designers (heck, R&K Williams established Sierra - tink, tink, tink - that was an arbitrary reference to the blinking star on their logo).


A little bit more about Roberta Williams

For a short bio on the famous game designer, check out Nation Master. Yes, I'm sure the Softporn cover bit will grab the attention of some readers out there.

In an interview with Women Gamers, Roberta Williams talks about her pioneering work, fun with King's Quest and of course, what it felt like to be a women in a male dominated industry.

There was no such thing as a female presence in the computer industry until I came along and made the adventure game category a big and important thing. It may now be up to some other enterprising and creative woman to come up with another big idea to capture all of those women out there who would just LOVE to play a computer game!

As for a behind-the-scenes look at the workings of the classic games, I found another interview, this time by Adventure Classics (via Moby Games)

Once I had figured out the ‘framework’ (now thought of in terms of the ‘game engine’) that I wanted for the game, the programmers came into the picture. Normally, they would essentially build the game engine around the type of game that I wanted it to be. They would do their best to fulfill my vision of the game. So, in those days, the game engine was built around my ideas, not the other way around, as, it seems in today’s world, so many games are.

Dr Horrible has arrived!!!!

Alright, if you didn't know about it and hence didn't watch it over the weekend, you're at the losing end.

Unless you have connect to the iTunes store.

What am I talking about?

Dr Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog!! Absolutely awesome. It had a wicked sense of humor, all characters did a splendid job (my personal fav. was Capt. Hammer) and story was simple but exceptionally well done.

What did you expect, Josh Whedon was involved!!

I love that bit where Capt Hammer says these fists are not the hammer and then comes back to explain exactly what the hammer is! Classic!

I really commend Joss Whedon and co. for experimenting with creative ideas on the internet. I'm quite tired of having perfectly wonderful shows canceled at the whim of a network exec. This way the real brains behind a show can connect with fans (those who matter) and can get the money back (as the ones who really deserve the moolah).

Plus, it's fantastic that he didn't pull the tiresome 'this is only available to US' tactic. That's another pet peeve - I don't care how much of a hoot it is that Lost and Heroes are available online, it is not viewable to those outside US. And hello, when you say thousands are fan of the shows, watch it on cable and buy the boxsets, you are not just refering to those in US!! Or is that another delusional thought by network exec.?

I'm eagerly anticipating Dr. Horrible dvd to come out; that's gonna be money well spent. Watch and see if I ever buy the Heroes boxset - not!!

Oldest structure in the world??

I honestly don't know what to make of this one. I am looking for an academic viewpoint of this groundbreaking artifact.

Two South African men, Johan Heine and Michael Tellinger, have released a book about a supposedly ground-breaking find - Adam's Calendar.

Tellinger believes that the site [of the calendar] ties up with an era when human beings first started painting in caves and started their migration into Europe and Asia from Africa between 60 000 and 70 000 years ago.

The two explorers also found that two of the central rocks work as a calendar, with a tall rock casting a shadow on a shorter, flat rock. The shadow moves across the rock in exactly one year

The authors believe that this monument dates as far back as 75 000 years, making it the oldest man-made structure.

Here's where it gets dicey. Tellinger is also the author of a far-out (I say far-fetched) book called Slave Species of God.

Let's say it's a new take on human origins, one that involves little green men and their quest for gold.

And I thought the reptilian creatures living in the center of the earth was an out there concept!

Again, let me say ... I don't know what to make of this discovery. So don't make it an ice-breaker topic at parties just yet!

Pears lie to us

I always wondered about this. I know Eddie Izzard made some classic comments about it. Now science has uncovered the truth behind it.

Do pears rot faster than apples? And the answer is, yes, they do.

According to BBC, Belgian researchers are just this much closer to understanding why pears are such rotten fruit. Because they don't air out the core, dammit!

Enough with the dramatics and here comes the explanation.

The secret seems to be the basic structure of pears; one they are plucked from their mama-tree, pears need a bit of breathing space when they are stored ("who stinks in here, wear some deo for seed' sake"). The way pears are made up, the little air channels in them are not well 'placed' (I call it a evolutionary mishap) and thus, oxygen do not reach the inner bits.

Ever wonder why no one plays bobbing pears?

Interview with David Hewlett

An interview with David Hewlett!

Yep, Gateworld has come up with another gem; the man who plays Rodney Mckay chats about being a dad, the new Atlantis season and of course, the new commander Robert Picardo.

It sounds like it will be a turning point in the series ... in a good way. I remember reading in a previous interview that Ronon is going to be darker (as if that is possible, nonetheless who's complaining). Now with Woosley's red tape rule, Daniel dropping by to mix things up a bit and a potential love triangle, Atlantis is going strong.

Extract from interview:

And paper! All of a sudden -- five seasons, never saw paper on a desk. And all of the sudden, he's got all these papers and files. We all get handled files. And that's it! So, it's just kind of fun. He's come in and put his stamp on it. And it's fun because you can really play that resentment. And we all resent him anyways. How could you not?

Flat World Knowledge

I like the idea. As someone who grew up in the 3rd World where textbooks are hard to come by and tertiary education is right up there next to impossible dreams like catching a leprechaun, the concept of a free and open textbook has a lot of appeal.

And let's face it, with the economies of many first world countries swooping down, this should be a welcome surprise.

Diablo 3 - bringing out the devil in you

The collective cry of ignorant outrage that is sweeping across the net and amidst fans of Diablo 3 ... is quite unfounded.

Read here for info about false rumors and strange theories concocted by people who don't seem to read gaming news (or watching game trailers) before heading off for the castle with their pitchfork.

Well, this blog post on Questioning the Norm will hopefully quell the mindless uprising.

He's right you know; people, read the interviews, the news and for the sake of P&S, watch the still and trailer.

Featuring artist from DA

I found Jayaxer on Deviantart through a friend.

It is amazing work. This one is my fav; ah, the sun shining off black leather boots on a dusky summer's day ...

We don't need no education

Harry Potter books become part of the Scottish curriculum.

I enjoyed the books and I admit I am a bit of Snape fan myself but this is a bit too far.

It's not the kind of literary material you would add to a school's reading list. At this point, Orson Scott Card and Terry Pratchett will fume for the rather liberal use of the word 'literary'.

The content is interesting and questions a lot of stuff but the writing style leaves much to be desired.

Wonder if parents will be somewhat mortified by the swear words in the book?

Of course, I could be completely off the chart and they are planning something different; like teaching actual subjects mentioned in the books. At this point, I trail off in my explanation and scurry off to join Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Riveria method - a differnt kind of 'petrol'

A possible replacement to petroleum?

A company in Houston called Sustainable Power Corp. have found a way to create alternate source of energy using farm waste!

The “Rivera Method” takes such agricultural refuse as cracked soy beans, rice and cotton seed hulls, grain sorghum, milo and jatropha and turns them into bio-crude oil. This crude – or Vetroleum, as Rivera calls it - can then be further refined into everything from gasoline to jet fuel and just about every petrochemical in between.

With the world facing a bit of an oil crisis, news of such innovations can be a lifesaver.

A pirate's life is not easy

Galley Cat had a piece on piracy - Matt Mason's short vid called "Pirate's Dilemma".

It's refreshing to see people question the whole digital rights, intellectual property issue. Mason's right; it's through efforts like derivative work or 'borrowing' that you end up developing the next big thing.

I like that bit which implied acts of piracy as the origins of some bits Hollywood industry. How the world has changed, huh?

Do you USe Facebook?

I was chatting to my little cousin recently and the topic of Facebook. Namely why I don't have a facebook account.

I used to but I canceled my account. I will pause now to observe a moment's silence for all those brave souls who fought to keep their personal details private. In the meantime, ignore the jeering from those in that corner, the ones yelling "I told you never to join."

So I canceled my account but am not sure if my details are lurking anywhere on their servers.

Well, to elaborate on the issue of privacy that haunts Facebook, me being the worldy-wise cousin, I did a google search for some articles.

And came across this little gem of an animation. A very well-done and concise animation about some of the privacy issues surrounding Facebook. Good job there!

I got my eyes on you

And no one to watch your back?

National Geographic has a fascinating article about the 'missing link' for flatfishes.

The article talks about a paper by Paleontologist Matt Friedman who, after numerous CT scans of flatfish fossils, found an intermediary group.

Flatfishes of the good old ancient days had eyes on both sides, as you do. But somehow, along the way, through the tough times and fishy recessions, flatfishes ended up with eyes on one side of the body. Yai yai yai!

Why is this groundbreaking?

Well, creationists used to pish-posh the very idea that this particular type of fish might have 'evolved', hah! the very thought. No, I think they were going in for the thunder, lightning, zap zap kind of immediate alteration between generations.

Now, with the proof of a gradual change, in the form of an intermediate group, creationists might have to rethink their words.

Time has come for a change...

I've been meaning to change my blogger template for a while. Never actually got around to making a new one. Or looking for others online.

Well, I just happen to come across this one and thought, why not?

You gotta love Mario.

Although I am a bit worried about labels overlapping ...

I found the template @ Final Sense; there are more, funky templates over there so hop over.

This will be my Recon Thr.

Black Holes can hurt people

Someone should give these folks science textbook.

Michelle Malkin talks about an instance where a mightily miffed county commissioner was insulted by the extremely racist phrase - "black hole"!

How crazy is that??

I can only hope that South Park hears about this and creates an excellent parody!

Lexicon for Modern City Woman

Anyone complaining about the mono-syllablic nature of modern day communication? ROFL, gr8, :) and of course, the ever popular LOL.

Chances are, I probably got that 'great' abbreviation all wrong.

Well, a group of hip-and-happening women has embraced the articulately challenging task and the end result - a book containing useful words, new words for when a few abbreviations are just not enough.

The book is called "The DailyCandy Lexicon: Words That Don't Exist but Should". From the sound of it (ha, ha), it contains an interesting compilation of words, although i must admit a few do sound 6 degrees too close to televised pop-culture.

According to the news article, here are examples from book:

yelluar - bad connection over cellphone
restaur-romp - make-out session at bar??

By now, there is bound to be a reader who says "Wait, why does it sound like chickie lingo."

Well, to clear that up - yes, it was lingo created by urban women living a fast paced citylife. They found that none of the official lingo quite describes a faulty cell connection as you go through a tunnel at 70m/h. Or something along those lines. So they wanted to share with other like minded women, headed in the same life path.

Enough quips. The fact that a new slang, one that is context and period specific, is being invented and promoted is a exciting. A true testimony to the dynamic nature of language and, of course, creativity of the human mind.

Vampire Avatars

I was browsing for some avatar when I came across Alien Entity!

This was my section of interest; you gotta get a kick out of Nosferatu and the dreary Dra-ku-la.

Nothing beats the sight of that creepy shadow on the stairs!

________________________________________________________________________

Related Articles:

Vampire Avatars - Part 2 (includes Buffy + Vampire Hunter D)

Your money or your life?

An 'open-source', 'shareware' version of the medical world?

Well, that's what I imagined when I read this article.

Sir John Sulston, renowned British scientist, decries the importance of profits in the medical profession.

He says there is now great concern among researchers about private companies patenting genes and genetic tests. He is also concerned about the misuse of information, and what he terms "disease mongering".

He's right you know; think of the number of teens nudged into the field, all because it was an excellent place to make money? Call that a tacky statement if you must, but I've heard one too many parents tut-tutting a Fine Art subject and waggling a finger in the air while espousing the monetary benefits of walking around in a white coat.

Tribute to Don S. Davis

Tis a sad day.

Don S. Davis, the gallant General Hammond from Stargate SG-1 died on Sunday 29th June 2008.

He's been part of many noteworthy products, but as an ardent fan of the gate travel series, he will always be General Hammond to me.

When I first saw the rather stern looking general in the series, I was quick to recall him from the delightfully dark Twin Peaks.

But he quickly became the force to be reckoned with, the one stern look that can deal with o' Neill's quip remarks, in other words, the General!!

As you explore the worlds along with SG-1 and, on an unlucky day go solo with Maybourne, the firm and reassuring face of the General watches over the team from the command center.

When alien goo hits the fan, you know he's going to stand up for the team. If need be, grab a gun and fight the demons. Hathor's influence notwithstanding.

It was Don S. Davis who made General Hammond; alrighty, it was a character well written by creative behind-the-scene teams. However, Davis gave it life. He provided the stern backbone, the commanding flair and, of course, a humane element to what could have been a strict rendition of a military commander.

I'm not a fan of military characters. Most of the time they tend to lurk on the far side of the reaky Scarecrow.

Thus, it is all the more surprising that I rooted for General Hammond in the entire series. Sure, the rest of the gang was a blast but at the end of the day, you had to have some respect and admire the man who has a direct line to the big guy. Otherwise it was just power crazy man with a self-destruct button.

I know, I know. I should mention other work by Don S. Davis. But then, I mostely watch scifi material and Stargate is my favorite series.

The Stargate franchise is a scifi fan's dream come true due to the talented people on and off screen. And Davis is an important part of this dream.

The world is a poorer place without Hammond from Texas. :(

Stay a while ...

A collective gasp all over the gaming world.

Diablo 3 was announced recently!

Time to get a mean gaming machine - SC2 this year with Diablo 3 to follow up? It's Christmas and Easter all in one ... or the mental equivalent of seeing an annoying person fall flat on their face.

A friend of mine with internetlessness (I know the word's awful but it sounds fun to say) was worried that it could only be played online.

No fear, it looks like Blizzard is sticking to the old format of Diablo 2 - offlline play by yourself, online fun with your buddies. That just sounded weird.

Alrighty. So browse around in the official Blizzard site and check out the amazing graphics, news or just drool at the screen, making Smeagel noises.